• Stephany Kirkpatrick said no to a job offer from Goldman Sachs so she could explore new territory.
• She decided to work at SoulCycle; an opportunity that equipped her to become an entrepreneur.
• Had she accepted the Goldman offer, she likely would not have become a founder, she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Stephany Kirkpatrick, a 43-year-old from New York, about turning down an offer from Goldman Sachs to work at SoulCycle. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When I got a job offer from Goldman Sachs, many people counseled me to take it. They likened it to Harvard. If you get in, you go.

By 2018, I'd spent 15 years working in the financial advice industry. I started my career as a financial planner in the retirement planning ecosystem. In 2011, I joined a New York-based startup called LearnVest. We were acquired in 2015, and I spent another three years working there.

In 2018, I received a job offer from Goldman Sachs to lead a software and business team. The role was similar to what I was already doing, and the obvious next step to continue my career in financial services.

Counter to every piece of advice I received from friends and family members, I thought about what would make me happy instead.

Choosing SoulCycle over Goldman allowed me to do something new

I could've accepted the Goldman job and been the subject matter expert, but in my heart of hearts, I wanted to test my boundaries.

In the spring of 2018, I turned down the offer from Goldman Sachs and accepted a job at the fitness company SoulCycle. The skills I gained at SoulCyle helped me start my own business, and I have no regrets about taking that risk.

The Goldman Sachs offer came after someone I had worked with at LearnVest reached out to me. They wanted me to meet someone building a new project at Goldman.

As you get further into your career, you do less formal applications, and it more likely your network is helping you connect with the right people at the right time.

I spoke with the connection at Goldman and realized the work would be very similar to what I'd done before.

Saying yes to this opportunity would mean I'd probably spend another 10 years doing the same work because I don't like to change jobs often. It became clear to me that this wasn't what I wanted.

I questioned whether I wanted to be a middle-aged financial expert or explore new territory.

Around that time, a person in my network who worked at SoulCycle reached out to me because of my digital and operating experience at LearnVest. I connected with the then-CEO, Melanie Whelan, and we had an informal conversation.

Working with Whelan checked all my boxes: I wanted to work for a female CEO since I'd worked for a female founder at LearnVest, and I wanted to work somewhere based in New York in an industry I could get excited about.

The job paid wildly less money than what I'd earned before. It would be a huge departure from what I'd been able to save. My husband and I had to sit down and discuss what it would mean for our lifestyle, and he supported my choice to take the job.

I also spoke with the chief commercial officer; we immediately clicked and shook hands. Shortly after, I became the GM of digital strategy.

At the time, SoulCycle was considering entering the at-home market. I learned about brick-and-mortar and supply chains and applied what I was good at: being a digital entrepreneur.

It pushed me to figure things out, like how to build bikes that go nowhere, what it would take to make content, and how to learn about the market. I had to build my network in the company and tap into the expertise of others. It was scary to walk into a place where I didn't know all the answers, but it unlocked incredible career growth for me.

After SoulCycle I founded my own business

I loved working at SoulCycle, but I couldn't stop thinking about an idea I'd had at my last job: how people have reduced access to money in a brokerage or high-yield savings account on nights, holidays, or weekends. This is a fundamental flaw in the infrastructure that powers financial services.

One day, I was catching up with an investor friend and brought it up to her. She told me I had a fundable idea and she wanted to write me an inspiration check.

I left SoulCycle in September 2019 and started my own business, Orum. We aim to improve payment speed and orchestration for businesses using API solutions. I've been working on Orum for the past five years. The team has grown to about 40 people, and we've raised $82M to date.

I don't think I'd be a founder if I hadn't turned down the Goldman offer

Looking back, I remember feeling excited about taking the SoulCycle job, but because I'm a people pleaser, I also felt a little bit of shame that I wasn't doing the thing people expected of me.

No one told me not to work at SoulCycle, but taking less money to do something I didn't know I was going to be good at was a little unsettling.

However, the opportunity has made me a better founder today. At both SoulCycle and LearnVest, I basically had to look at a blank piece of paper and pursue a strategy to test our hypothesis. I had to ask and answer how quickly we could learn whether to do this or that, and that's what startups are all about.

Had I stayed in financial services instead of moving to SoulCycle, I truly think I would've stayed there for the next 10 years. I don't think I'd be any less happy, but it's very unlikely that I would have had the courage or reason to take the leap of faith to become a founder.

I'm excited about where Orum is right now and have zero regrets.

Do you have a story about turning down a prestigious job offer or leaving a prestigious company? Email [email protected]